Marcus Aurelius: A Life

This book should have been entitled Marcus Aurelius and his Age, not as it is, Marcus Aurelius, a Life. In fact, so much of the age of MA the author take the care to talk about that, in fact, as example of this, the life and feats of his son Commodus, with MA already dead, is almost enough large to make possible another biography, this Time "Commodus, a Life". So what the author gives us is a lot fuller view than what you expect from a biography, where, of course, we demand an amount of extra history to understand the character; Mc Lynn gives much more. Another peculiarity: he gives that extra history not as it is usual, in compartmentalized chapters of the kind "Economic features of the age of so and so..." Instead, McLynn just stop what he is telling us about MA, leave him somewhere in the thread of the narration and begin to tell us about that extra aspects in full, page after page, so you remember the stile of Montaigne and his genial digressions. But this is not a flaw; he does such a thing with verve and so you find after a while that so a massive books is almost already read in just a couple of days. Informative, opinionated, sometimes humorous, this is great reading even for experienced Rome history geeks.

Plato, in his "Republic," spoke of the value of the philosopher-king, arguing that that government would be best which was headed by philosophers, who understood "truth." If so, then Marcus Aurelius should have been one of the great rulers of his era. This book explores, in considerable detail and with a broad scope, his philosophy, his life, and his rule.He was designated as a future ruler by Hadrian, to follow what was expected to be a short reign by Antoninus Pius (who was rather elderly when he took the throne)--who, however, lived quite some time. Thus, Marcus Aurelius became emperor (actually, co-emperor) at an age older than otherwise expected.The book is good at providing context. At the outset, McLynn notes the importance of this work (Page xi): ". . .the only voice that still seems to have contemporary relevance is that of the man who ruled the Roman empire from 161-180 AD." He also observes that (Page 9): "We continue to use the tag 'Marcus Aurelius' for a ruler who is wise." Then, he discusses the Roman economy (including the role of slaves, which was not altogether positive in its impact on the economy) and government. Given the importance of the emperor Hadrian, the book spends some time discussing his rule and the effects of his exercise of power. Hadrian was a hard person, willing to "take out" those whom he thought might endanger his rule. McLynn refers to him as a "very dark character." Indeed, one characteristic of this volume, and one that sometimes becomes obtrusive, is his running commentary and highly judgmental comments in the middle of his narrative. Personally, I would have preferred his analysis to come at the end. On the other hand, the reader as always aware of the author's perspective, and that has its own merit.The childhood and early adulthood of Marcus Aurelius is well described, including his education, his belief in Stoicism, and his experience with the world of Roman politics. Hadrian designated Marcus to become emperor, and the volume describes the logic nicely. Under the emperorship of Antoninus, Marcus was kept in Rome, involved in administrative tasks. He was never really trained or developed any experience with respect to war and command of the Roman legions. Thus, he had to learn while doing later on (although he did reasonably well in command of his forces, generally good generals to assist him. We learn of his family life and of his son, the horrific Commodus, one of the most wretched of emperors (well described in the text). Indeed, some judge Marcus Aurelius negatively for having such faith in a son who turned out so vilely.Upon his accession (with a mediocrity as co-emperor), Marcus set about the task of keeping the empire on solid footing. There were many challenges. The economy was beginning to creak, and this he stage for future deterioration. His effort to link philosophy with rule is touched on, showing the great challenges facing a philosopher who would be king. He did not like the spectacles of Rome, but had to fund them to keep the people happy, for instance. War fi8nally broke out to the north and east, and he performed pretty well as commander-in-chief--against the Germans and others who wished to break free from Roman rule.McLynn sometimes seems to wander back and forth in judgment of Marcus' rule. Sometimes, he seems to note that he never lived up to his promise; at other times he observes that he did about as well as anyone could, given the emerging problems of the empire. The last chapter does a very solid job of putting Marcus Aurelius in a larger context.All in all, if one be interested in Marcus Aurelius the person, the philosopher, and the emperor, this book would be well worth reading. . . .

This is a fair, intelligent, and thorough biography of the world's most beloved pagans: Emperor Marcus Aurelius. It is easy to fall in love with Marcus, so I appreciate the authors resolute determination to be objective. I like the way the author not only talks about his life as an emperor but his life as a person, including his correspondence with friends . Moreover, the book does a good job of describing the world around Marcus, something that is essential to understanding Marcus himself.

Thoroughly examines the life & beliefs of the emperor Marcus Aurelius, with extensive footnotes & bibliography for those who wish to go even deeper.There are occasional errors by the author (such as calling a mesuzah a "shibboleth", & some inaccuracies in describing orthodox Christian doctrine), but the more common & annoying errors are in the production of the ebook - duplicating words or entire phrases in a rather confusing way. This occurs in both the text & the notes.It would also be helpful if the notes were linked to the numbers in the text (as has been done in other scholarly ebooks) so that the reader could check a note, then return to the text for continued reading.For these reasons, I gave the book a 3-star rating. If it had been a 99-cent book, I would have understood these shortcomings - but I expect more care & effort to be made when publishing an ebook at this price point.

Overall, one of the BEST Roman biographies, BEST Roman Histories, BEST explanation of Rome's view of Stoic Philosophy and BEST discussion of Christianity's relationship to Rome in the Second Century that I've ever read. Certainly worth reading if you have ANY interest AT ALL in ANY of the subjects mentioned above.

More than a biography of Marcus Aurelius, this book explores Stoicism, Christianity, Judaism, Paganism, Roman culture, war and the army, Galen, Commodus, Hadrian, Greece, Asia, Spain, etc.The writing style is complex but engaging, with rather obscure words and language thrown in. At around 540 pages of main content, with a small font, it's a relatively long book but never felt a challenge, always enjoyable.

Je vous le déconseille si vous voulez apprendre des choses sur Marc Aurèle. La majorité du livre est sur ce qu'il passé avant ou après son règne, des listes de noms, de faits, de dates n'ayant que très peu d'intérêt. J'ai commencé à sauter des pages quand c'était trop barbant puis j'ai carrément arrêté.Bonne chance si vous décidez de le lire quand même.

A second tour through this book! A good overview of Hadrian and Antoninus as well as thorough consideration of Aurelius'

Full of interesting fact Well set out and paced well

This book has so much background information, you sometimes forget you are reading about Marcus Aurelius. You will read about Julius Caesar`s war plans for the Parthian Empire. How Mark Anthony`s battle with the Parthian Empire, enabled Augustus to become the Emperor of Rome. Yes it was all very interesting, but just a little off track. The book ends up being much longer then it needed to be. The book does not have a table of contents, and the title of each chapter is blank.The reader will end up getting all the details of Aurelius`s life. It is just going to take a while. The chapter on Emperor Commodus, was quite gripping. Commodus combines Stalin like purges of the government, with the sadistic living of a serial killer.In the very last chapter there was a reference to Ulysses S. Grant`s Personal Memiors and Aurelius`s Meditations. This gives you an idea, just how far off track Mclynn manages to get.If this book was re-titled as some sort of general Roman history, I would perhaps recommend it. I would recommend the a reader to look elsewhere, in regards to Marcus Aurelius.